The whole car modding hobby is retarded. Why dump thousands of dollars into a car to make tons of power when 95% of the time you aren't going to use it? Because it's your money and if going fast is your thing, do you. Exhaust only nets minimal gains but is one of the first things a performance owner does so his car sounds more aggressive. Well if I like how a more aggressive cam sound like most car enthusiasts do and it's an add on to a tune with no adverse effects then why not?
Remember what you just said the next time you talk shit about a 'ricer'. Many cars actually net A LOT from exhaust upgrades. Motors like my S2k, not so much. To counter your exhaust argument again, even if minimal max power is made there is generally good midrange gained along with better throttle response. I've got NO PROBLEM with exhausts or anything like that. But putting in a 'ghost cam' as in how I understand it (I could be wrong in my understanding of LSA and cam lope), is actually DECREASING performance. It idles worse, wastes more fuel at idle and probably has slightly worse pickup immediately off-idle.
I think you are missing what happens with the ghost cam. It changes the valve timing and acts like a more aggressively cut cam for low end power. Hence lumpier at idle. Its not an electric BOV or a fake intercooler, it changes the powerband and cam behavior without changing the cam.
I will say though I would love it if Mustang offered two flavors. The road course flavor and the drag strip flavor. They would have an unstoppable sales potential and not need to contuially find compromises. That said, live axle and all the new Mustang appears to be a thing of beauty. I can't speak to the 1st handness of it so far, but I never found the prior models, 2010 or so, to be totally devoid of feel as you mention either. Not an Exige, but not a truck by any sense.
Maybe I misunderstand single static cam motors like pushrod motors, but the lumpier the idle, the WORSE the low-end is. High valve overlap means more midrange, but we're talking about idle and off-idle here.
The cool thing about this motor is its a REAL American DOHC powerhouse and its affordable! It's fucking awesome! We don't need lumpy cams anymore. Lumpy cams exist on pushrod motors because they can't change a cam's profile dynamically based on rpm/load/etc. They just have to deal with it. It's become a mark of a car with heavy mods, so I can understand WHY the sound is preferable, but the other consequences aren't so hot imo.
Prior to the 2010 suspension package, I've been pretty turned-off by Mustangs in general (minus the last-gen Cobra-R or something like that). The live axle may be nice on smooth pavement, but review after review finds it's still a liability on even marginally less-than-smooth pavement. I wasn't able to run it for a long period of time, just about 20 minutes (my co-worker let me drive it to lunch). But while the suspension was MUCH improved over what I've experienced the past, the car's steering feels more like a Toyota Camry to be honest. Our 370z would run literal circles around this thing on a tight track (fugetaboutit in a straight-line tho lol).
I like the idea of the different car versions though. At least give us say Hyundai Genesis style of handling?
